yourbookishbff's reviews
606 reviews

The Lady Gets Lucky by Joanna Shupe

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adventurous emotional funny reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

I thoroughly enjoyed this! Reformed rake x wallflower, with loads of sexual agency and consent (lessons in seduction, anyone?!) and believable, well-developed character growth for both main characters. I particularly appreciated how Shupe explores two under-confident characters - one who masks their low self-esteem through social performance and likeability and one who retreats as much as possible to limit rejection and social discomfort. The beauty in this love story lies in how each character brings out the other's self-confidence without veering into codependency - a delicate balance and really well done.
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Knockout by Sarah MacLean

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adventurous funny hopeful mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

I loved everything about this. I was nervous about Tommy (he's a PEELER?!) but I should have trusted Sarah would give us exactly the character arc he needed. Imogen has always been a delight - her love of chemistry, loyalty to her friends, confidence in her abilities - and Tommy is an excellent foil to her, starchy where she's uninhibited and quiet where she's chaos. We get explicit declarations of fidelity (my heart!!), loads of caretaking and touch-her/him-and-you-die energy, and some absolutely fantastic moments with the Belles. 

And the epilogue?! GIMME DUCHESS'S BOOK YESTERDAY 
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The Rakess by Scarlett Peckham

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challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

HEED CONTENT WARNINGS. This was DARK and angsty and felt reminiscent of Stevie Sparks for me? I loved it, but I did have to set it aside a few times because I was simply too stressed to pick it back up. Peckham tackles a lot here. Her "Society of Sirens" is truly a found family of women outcasts who have discovered community and security within their shared "radical" politics (radical, ie, women should have rights equal to men), and I grew to love how they support and protect one another throughout this first installment. Sera, our female main character, is managing bucket-loads of trauma - ruination as a teen and its extended personal, familial and communal fall-out - when she meets our male main character, Adam Anderson, handsome and self-restrained Scot raising his two children after the death of his beloved wife in childbirth. Both characters are navigating reproductive agency and childbirth-related trauma, grief and loss, political pressure (Sera as a radical feminist and Adam as a Scot during a tense time in England), alcoholism (and its generational impacts), and classism. Given the heavy subject matter and significant barriers for these two, I really appreciated that Peckham focuses on personal healing for each individually - at the exact moment when they could have become a toxic and codependent hellscape, she pulls them apart and recommits each to their individual paths. Without that moment, this wouldn't have worked for me. Each character is challenging to read at times - they hurt one another repeatedly - but ultimately, their path back to each other feels real and hard-won, and I appreciated seeing their unconventional and perfectly wholesome happily-ever-after. 
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The Lily of Ludgate Hill by Mimi Matthews

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emotional hopeful reflective sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

Mimi Matthews excels in writing familial dynamics that make the reader feel almost claustrophobic. Her insight into parent-child relationships, grief, and the conflict between duty and desire, makes each installment in this series feel like a slow unburdening for our main characters. Our female main character in The Lily of Ludgate Hill, Lady Anne Deveril, is in her seventh year of mourning her father and has become the primary support for her still-grieving mother, a role that has kept her largely in the shadows of her own life - much to the frustration of our ever-pining male main character, Felix Hartford. This is a beautifully executed second-chance romance between two people who were simply too young and too over-burdened to sustain their relationship seven years ago and must now determine how vulnerable they are willing to be as they recommit to one another and themselves. I loved the slow-and-steady approach Matthews took to their rekindled trust and renewed courtship, and my only complaint is that our secondary conflicts weighed down the third act a bit much for me - this felt like it could have been shorter. Otherwise, I really loved this, and I cannot wait to read the fourth and final installment after the excellent preview we get of our two main characters.
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The Fireborne Blade by Charlotte Bond

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Did not finish book. Stopped at 21%.
Not the right mood - will return to this!
Earl Crush by Alexandra Vasti

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adventurous emotional funny hopeful mysterious reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

This was a joy, and surprisingly mysterious and high stakes! I love Vasti's lean into (historically authentic) absurdity, and the opening scenes were hilariously melodramatic. Lydia was such a compelling character in Ne'er Duke Well, and to see her absolutely wreck a big, burly, pure-hearted Scotsman feels so RIGHT. I loved seeing how she and Arthur learn one another's minds, and how her secret and scandalous political career is foundational to how she's understood by him and his family. Lydia deserves to be a whole person, and the exploration of how her family has shielded her - a misguided attempt to protect her - from conflict and anxiety was so well done. To see her and Arthur again self-confidence and a sense of individual purpose through their journey was so moving.

And this political plot!! I didn't see it coming and loved where it took us. This made for an exciting third act that propelled us headlong into difficult discoveries, and thankfully brought along a cast of loveable side characters, too.

The interwoven epistolary elements and chapter starts were brilliantly done and helped land an emotional gut punch in the third act, and I give 12/10 stars to these love declarations. Such a fun follow-up to Ne'er Duke Well, but one that can easily stand alone for new readers. Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for an advanced reader's copy.
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When the Earl Desired Me by Lydia Lloyd

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emotional hopeful mysterious reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

If you, like me, live for explicit declarations of fidelity, goner heroes who haven't noticed another woman since the day they met the heroine, and quick-off-the-mark men who are not remotely ashamed of it, have I got the book for you. I struggled with the friend group at the center of this series after reading the first installment, and had actually feared this specific character's book, given how he's portrayed as a side character. The "Downstairs Menace," preying on servants and carousing through London without a care in the world? No thanks. It wasn't until an ARC reviewer assured me that this would be a wholly different story - that a more nuanced and endearing story lies beneath his reputation - that I gave it a chance. I'm so glad I did, because Lloyd directly examines class difference (and the resulting power imbalance, impact on consent/agency) through this love story, giving us a window into "downstairs" life and its very real hazards. I fell in love with this hero by the end, and appreciated that the unique turns the mystery takes late in the book actually helped to address my frustrations with the behavior of his friends. Lloyd weaves in epistolary elements as flashbacks, building out a really compelling and romantic second-chance love story for this unlikely couple.
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Subtle Blood by KJ Charles

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adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious reflective tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

While the middle installment in this trilogy was a bit more forgettable for me, I loved this conclusion. The character development takes center stage here, as both Will and Kim finally tackle issues of abandonment, fidelity, honest and accountability, career goals and more. These two have BEEN THROUGH IT, and seeing them finally achieve a happily-ever-after together is delightful. There's a lot of murder in between, and I was less invested in the ongoing Zodiac drama as the series went on, but KJC plots well and keeps things nice and tight, so I was able to hang. 
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Duchess Material by Emily Sullivan

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hopeful reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

This was, unfortunately, not for me. The "duke struggles with the burden of his title and falls in love with a woman *beneath* him" premise is one thing, but when it's clear the entire character arc will be said duke discovering a woman he supposedly admires and respects isn't actually going to ruin his life and standing, I just don't care to watch him grow. I want him to trip in a mud puddle and then forget he ever existed. This set-up is a favorite for many readers, and I respect that watching starchy people fall apart is the draw, but this MMC wasn't starchy so much as deeply impressionable and unmotivated. He did not once tell the FMC he loved her, and waited at every turn for her to apologize for having any expectations of him at all. His inner monologue was grating. I think I have some fairly ingrained biases against this style MMC and others may not find him as off-putting. 

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for an advanced reader's copy.
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Compromised into a Scandalous Marriage by Lydia San Andres

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mysterious reflective tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

This took me a bit to get into, but once I did, I inhaled it. Set at the turn of the 20th century in the Dominican Republic, the story is inspired by a true account of a forced marriage (a man threatened with imprisonment if he won't consent to wed). Our male main character, Sebastian, owns a now-prosperous sugar mill in San Pedro, and has recently reconnected with the neighbors to his country home, the reclusive Paulina and her sadistic and abusive older brother, Antonio. What begins as a seemingly innocuous encounter in town quickly spirals, as Antonio schemes to force Paulina and Sebastian into marriage for his own gain. 

This hit so many of my favorite beats for forced marriage - resentment, repressed longing and unlikely alliances - and the backdrop of San Pedro politics, blackmail and bribery made this is a high-stakes plot. While a few of the twists were fairly predictable, the conflict resolution directly addressed the nuanced power imbalances between our main characters - he grew up poor and was orphaned young, she grew up rich but fell into the care of a controlling and manipulative brother, and they find their circumstances largely swapped in adulthood. I loved seeing how they navigate what they are to each other and whether or not they will be in a position to truly choose a life together. 

And this third act!! Holy heck she WENT THERE! I haven't seen a villain meet such a satisfying end since Captured, by Beverly Jenkins. Whew, I was reeling. This was a STRESSY and atmospheric read and I can't wait to read more by Lydia San Andres!

Note: there are some continuity errors here that were a bit distracting, and a few missing beats in the MMC's POV, but honestly, I had such a good time reading this that these weren't deal breakers for me.
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